Not sure about you guys, but Ive opened up some 2006's (Clerc Milon, Ducru Beaucaillou which I will post later on) and decanted them to find them much more lovely and desirable than the 05's.

Do you guys think that 2005 was over rated media-wise? I just feel like 2006, even young, are stellar, certainly cellar-worthy, and more affordable. I get the feeling from the notes I am seeing about the 2009 vintage that this is again... a big media hype designed to inflate the price of Bordeaux by taking advantage of their Asian market position. While I appreciate Robert Parker, it seems to me that his love for Bordeaux affects his judgment with respect to rating the vintages fairly. He hyped the 2005's and downgraded the 2006's only to go back and give the 2006's a strong buy recommendation because "over time they may prove to be as worthy as the 2005's."

PW, I understand what your theory is but unfortunately I'm not sure I'm the best candidate to comment....cuz I'm cheap. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] I've only tasted about a dozen bottles of 05's from my cellar and they are of the QPR variety. Cote Mont Pezat ($13 and good), Puygueraud ($25 and really good),...up to Pontet Canet ($89 and really really good but more modern). Whereas the '06's I'll drink anything I can get me little hands on and are in the same price range. So at the end of the day, price is a big driver in what I drink and I'll be comfortable drinking within that range. What I choose that night depends on what I'm looking for in a wine to match the dinner.

There is not a vintage I don't drink [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] I only really think of vintages as when I can drink them or what characteristics of a wine I wanted that particular evening. I actually really look forward to the vintage variations from the wineries or else I'd find it a bit boring if the same wine came out year in year out. As such, I could not drink '05 bordeauxs night after night.

This year, as I spent most of it in the UK, I've consumed a large number of claret from '01, '02, '04 and '06 and you are right, they are lovely (and cheaper than '00,'03 and '05). In fact, I would agree with you that the '06's would be my top choice of these four vintage in general but again, I would not stop popping the others. My fav bottle of bordeaux this year was an '02 Haut Brion that was ethereal and light....after decanting for 8 hours.... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] lovely stuff if I could afford to drink this stuff all the time.

Having said that, there are some lemming-over-the-cliff tendencies that I have and I do buy more of the more hyped vintages but only for wines that I like (and afford). But another quick check of CellarTracker, shows the following vintages in my cellar, 58, 66, 70, 86, 88, 89, 95, 96, 97, 98,99, 00, 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06. I've not purchased any 07 and 08 cuz I've not seen them on shelves and I am getting these crazy values on '04's and '06's that make me overloaded as it was. [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] I am buying '09's but have not really started yet...though Cote Mont Pezat is again around $13,... [img]http://www.wines.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] Cheap Bastard I am .....

Awesome post Engineer. I'm certain we're thinking the along the same lines. I don't drink high dollar nectar all the time, but as life would have it when you are in the biz, its more made available to you than anything else. Probably why I drink way more Rhone than I do Bordeaux, however I too love the variance and the anticipation of a hidden Bordeaux.

PW, I did get to Argentina and did imbue a bit, but did not get as far as Mendoza. We had a great time in BA though and Iguassu Falls was incredible. Fav wine of the trip was the couple from A Crux, O Fournier. Very nice indeed especially for the price.

Thanks for that. Will be heading to Champagne, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone and Potentially Piedmont.... might not be that aggressive though.

I have a friend who owns a petit garagista winery in BOrdeaux. His family has been producing wine since the 1600's in Bordeaux under Chateau Trocard. Benoit Trocard is his name and he would be very hospitable for you. If you want me to set you up with him I can.

I can probably make a few recommendations in Rhone. Burgundy may be a bit tough since its mostly negociant producers although I can probably get you something with Jadot or Drouhin. Give me a few dates if you can...

Engineer, I am in fact buying them, but conservatively. I couldn't believe that La Mission HB was released that high, but I did hear from a good friend that he felt that Margaux and Mission HB were the two best wines produced in 2009. He was disappointed with Ausone and Petrus.

There's a lot of inter-negociant fighting and consolidation going on as it often does in rock star vintages. It's not a healthy environment over there and things do need to change, but you know at the end of the day I am not going to allow that to affect my love for French wines, however I've certainly got an affection for good Napa juice. Drinking Bordeaux is becoming a luxury good ONLY for the ultra-wealthy which may account for .5% of the total population so eventually wine prices will need to adjust.

Just my 2 cents... Hope you guys are all doing well! New site is coming in a couple days...

I knew we were in for a ride when la Mission came out at $799 to $899.....

I HOPE that will be a bust for them. This is nuts,......

For Lafite, do the math, assume 30% is added at each level, so Lafite gets $1123 a bottle. 20,000 case production annually means $270 million in revenue just from Lafite, not counting Carruades, Duhart, etc,... WOW for an agricultural firm,.....

TE, this absurd pricing has me running for cover and yelling out "NO" so unless the Chinese buy up all of them, I doubt this will sustain. I do want to emphasize that this is a good thing for wines outside of Bordeaux, but for the love of Pete, this sucks for dudes like us who want a little bit of Bordeaux. Or we need to find out how to make more cayshe!

You may have noticed this as well but in the US, there is a slight repricing of the wines going on....Two major ones that have fallen significantly are: Lafite and Cos. Lafite can now be had for around $1100 a bottle (yes I know....) and the Cos is down frmo $400 to $300. However, this is mainly in the US. I can't find any price moving down in the UK... I wish i heard about th eLCBO release of Carruades for approximately $130 USD a bottle... And there are others, Barton is now under $100 a bottle, and many have slowly dipped. And there is still a lot of stock out there. I also read somewhere that the Chateaus released less wines than ususal and have held onto more wines to slowly release them and earn more in the process. As we talked about, the elaticity of demand this year might resemble mroe of a cliff....

Well, if you want to go bottom feeding to save a few bucks instead of cherry picking, there are plenty of values out there. For instance, we have the 2009 Ch. Roc de Segur on the shelf at $11.99. Not a world beater, but it sure is a tasty bottle of wine.

No wine is worth $1k a bottle, just a no jeans are worth $200 and purses??? It is definitely a rich person's game now.....

I did splurge and I did buy a lot of the 09's but I kept my head with me....I think..... Most of my purchases were value driven, even the named ones... Yes they were expensive but I offset each one of those with a Chasse Spleen, or a Beychevelle, which at $31 is a decent bargain...of course we won't see it for a few years. Some of my regular buys got really expensive this year, like Duhart Milon now at about $1k a case.....not sure it's Lynch-Bages level but that is still a few hundred dollars north in 09...